April 1, 2010

Not Much Cooking, So.../あまり料理してないので・・・

I haven't done much cooking these days, so I'd like to share with you some photos I took this morning.最近あまり料理をしていないので、今朝撮った写真を載せたいと思います。

A bag of frozen Chamame and its contents:冷凍の茶豆（ちゃまめ）一袋とその中身：As I said previously, Chamame (lit. brown bean) is a variety of soy bean eaten as edamame. It's flavorful, and it's very popular here in Niigata.前に言ったように、茶豆とは、枝豆として食べる大豆の品種です。美味しくて、新潟ではとても人気があります。

To reconstitute them, I soaked them in a small amount of water and put them in the fridge overnight.戻すため、少量の水に浸し、冷蔵庫に一晩入れておきました。I put them all in clear soup this morning.今朝、澄まし汁に全部入れました。

Ice creams in the freezer:冷凍庫内のアイスクリーム：Believe or not, I'm not a big fan of Haagen Dazs; it's too rich (and hard!) for me. I prefer MOW, which is also rich, but is less rich than Haagen Dazs. Sato Monaka (bottom left) is one of my favorites. It has chestnut filling in it. Vanilla Bar of Lotte (bottom center) should be a favorite of almost everyone. Shiro Kuma (lit. White Bear) is a specialty of Kyushu, but has become readily available in other parts of Japan. It contains pineapple, yellow peach, and aduki. Another favorite of almost everyone.信じられないかも知れませんが、私はハーゲンダッツはあまり好きではありません。濃厚過ぎ（固過ぎ）なので。MOWのほうが好きです。濃厚ですが、ハーゲンダッツほどは濃厚ではないので。里もなか（左下）は好きです。栗のあんこが入っています。ロッテのバニラバー（中央下）は誰でも好きでしょう。白くまは九州の名物ですが、他の地域でも簡単に手に入るようになりました。パインと黄桃と小豆が入っています。これも誰でも好きだと思います。

Finally, three types of Usu Kawa (Thin Crust) series of Yamazaki:最後に、ヤマザキの薄皮シリーズの３種：Top to bottom: "Cream pan" (pan = bread), which contains custard cream, "tsubu an pan", which contains tsubu an (azuki bean jam with skins unremoved), and "sakura an pan", which contains shiro (white) an with bits of salted sakura leaves.上から下へ： クリームパン、つぶあんぱん、さくらあんぱん

One sakura an pan cut into halves:半分に切ったさくらあんぱん：Not bad for its price (around 120 yen).値段（およそ120円）の割には悪くはないです。

I actually like Haagen Daz, but I grew up eating mediocre US grocery store ice cream, so Haagen Daz is a treat for me.

Cream pan is a childhood favorite of mine. My grandmother used to buy some for me occasionally. Now I look for it every time I'm somewhere that sells Japanese style pastries. An pan is much easier to find where I live though.

Hiroyuki, I got Japanese style cream pan in my childhood because my grandmother is Japanese. She was born and raised in Nagaokakyo. She's been in the US for 58 years. Except for my grandfather (who is Nikkei) and her children, most of her family is still in Japan.

Grandma often would get us treats when she'd go to the Japanese markets in Los Angeles. Often it was things like cream pan, milk caramels, daifuku or senbei.

My husband is also Nikkei, but his grandmothers made more traditional style wagashi for him rather than my grandmother's storebought treats.